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It looks like Microsoft will be closely linking all three of its consumer devices, Windows, Windows Phone, and Xbox One, sometime in 2015 when it releases its next big Windows update, codenamed "Threshold."

Microsoft Executive Vice President Terry Myerson recently mentioned the Threshold codename in an internal email about plans for his unified operating-system engineering group.

Threshold calls for simultaneous updates to Windows, Windows Phone, and Xbox One, with lots of features that make them all work closely together. For instance, they might use a single app store and Office documents will be able to be displayed on all three, says Foley.

That talk came from Microsoft exec Julie Larson-Green. Speaking at the UBS Global Technology Conference on November 21, she said: "We have the Windows Phone OS. We have Windows RT and we have full Windows. We're not going to have three."

There is expected to be at least one operating system update between now and Threshold, probably called Windows 8.1 Update 1, released when Microsoft updates Windows Phone, around the spring of 2014, Foley says.